Hello everyone! We're back finally. Hope you still remember where we are. <g>
Table of Contents From Part 5:
“Lois, it’s Star. I know you’re in there. Open up. I brought ice cream.”
Star. That name sounded familiar. Star...? Oh, yes, Clark had mentioned the name to her that morning. She was Lois’s new neighbor, the one who had given her the plant.
Lois started to wonder how Star knew she was in here and then remembered Clark mentioning something about her being psychic. She rolled her eyes. This was bound to be interesting.
She opened the door. “Hi, Star.” Lois was about to tell her that she was very tired and had lost her memory and wasn’t in the mood to talk, but Star came flouncing into her apartment talking a mile a minute before Lois could even form her words.
“Hi, Lois. I’m sorry to barge in on you like this but I’ve been out of town visiting my sister for the past two days and I wanted to check on you. How’s your head?”
“Um, okay, but I...”
“Oh, good. That was a nasty little spill you took. I was worried,” Star interrupted her. “Anyway, I just got back tonight and I ran into Clark as he was leaving. He looked pretty upset and he didn’t want to talk. Are you two still having problems? I thought after we talked the other night that you were feeling more comfortable about marriage and commitment. Where do you keep your spoons? Nevermind, I know.” She smiled at Lois giving her a little wink. “I always know.” Star headed off into the kitchen in search of the required silverware.
Lois’s head spun from the influx of information. Is this how other people felt when *she* went into babble mode?
Wait...
<’Take all the time you need...’> Lois caught up to Star and grabbed her arm to catch her attention. “What do you mean by ‘marriage and commitment’?”
*********
PART SIX
*********
Darkness. A freezing void. Lois wanted to breathe but the air wouldn’t find her lungs. She tried to scream but no sound came to her lips.
She was going to die. Or she already had.
But then...
Heat. An indescribable feeling of warmth. And a voice...
“Live,” it commanded her. She tried to open her eyes, but found she couldn’t. She felt the warm touch of someone’s hand on her own, and then the soft caress of lips brush against hers as air was forced into her lungs. They protested the invasion, wanting to accept the life-giving air, but were not yet ready to do so.
“Come on, Lois. Come back to me.” The voice begged her. “Fight, Lois, come on, fight.” It was like she was trapped in a thick fog, but even through her blindness, she recognized the voice... Clark. He sounded so frightened.
‘I’m trying, Clark!’ her mind screamed at him as she began to fear that this would be the last time she ever heard his voice. She clawed her way further through the fog.
“Don’t you die on me, Lois. Now come on, don’t give up.” His voice seemed to quiver.
‘I’m not! Clark, I’m trying!’ It seemed as if she could see a bit of light through the fog. Was that good or bad? She had heard about people ‘moving towards the light’...
“Come on, breathe, Lois. Breathe!” Clark commanded her, his tone thick with desperation.
She tried to will herself to open her eyes. Breathe! Move! Cough! Something...
She felt the weight of his head against her chest. “No...” His voice was barely even a breath and yet it was so full of pain.
He thought she was dead.
She exerted every ounce of strength and spirit that she could find inside her... and then her panic increased. The breath he had pushed into her lungs was escaping – she wasn’t able to hold onto it.
She coughed.
Clark’s arms were around her immediately. “Okay, okay,” he murmured soothingly to her.
She coughed again and then gratefully sucked in a deep breath.
“Okay, okay. That’s it... okay,” he continued to persuade her with whispers as he clutched her against him protectively. She could hear murmurs of relief coming from Martha and Jonathan as well. They were alive! It had worked!
“I heard you calling,” she choked out, wanting to reassure him. “I heard you calling.”
“Shhh. Shhh,” he whispered softly, holding her even tighter.
She opened her eyes, expecting to see Clark and his parents; but, instead, she saw Superman’s concerned face looking down at her.
Lois’s eyes flew open.
Clark is Superman.
She threw the covers back in her bed, feeling slightly claustrophobic. It wasn’t a dream. It was real. That had really happened.
Clark is Superman.
It had worked! They had beaten Jace and saved Clark’s parents. Her heart lurched with indescribable relief.
But where was Clark? She wanted him – needed to hold him in her arms. She needed to talk to him, to sort through this amazing discovery. She knew she was right. What would his reaction be? Where was he? How had she gotten back to her apartment? She couldn’t seem to remember...
She glanced over at her alarm clock. She couldn’t read the time – something was taped to the front of it. She reached over and turned her lamp on so she could see what it was. Maybe Clark had left her a note?
She grabbed the note from her clock. It was folded in half and there was handwriting on the outside – *her* handwriting:
‘Lois – you must read this before you do anything else.’With the oddest sense of déjà vu, she opened the note. It appeared to be some kind of a list - in her own handwriting. Thoroughly confused, she began to read the list...
1. You have amnesia – I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true (check the burgundy notebook on your nightstand for further details).
2. Yes, you know about Clark and he knows you know. Your plan worked (well, sort of - again check your journal) and Clark’s parents are safe.
3. You cut your hair, don’t freak out – I don’t know why – and you have a bump on your head from a concussion.
4. You have a new neighbor named Star. She gave you the plant in your bedroom. Last night she said that Clark proposed to you a month ago. Maybe check with Perry about this, not sure how much to trust Star? She obviously doesn’t know you that well if she gave you a plant.
5. You have a doctor’s appointment to go to this morning and Clark will be coming by to pick you up. He’s been acting very distant. It may be because (according to Star) you turned down his proposal. Again, need more info on this.
6. Call the drycleaners, your light blue suit is missing and you probably dropped it off there before this all started.
7. Check the expiration date on your milk. I meant to do this last night but I was too tired to get out of bed.
Lois set the paper down and felt a little lightheaded. Her hand rose to run through her hair and she was dismayed to find that it really was shorter. She glanced wearily over at the burgundy notebook. When she opened it she noted with dismay that the date was a month in the future. When had it become August? But it must, or someone was doing a damn fine job of forging her handwriting.
Amnesia?
**********
Clark fought the growing anxiety he was feeling the closer he came to Lois’s apartment door.
It was like already knowing the end of a book but reading it anyway and hoping desperately that somehow it would change... this time.
But what if she hadn’t forgotten everything again? What if she managed to remember some of what she had learned yesterday?
What was he saying? Of course she would remember some of yesterday. If not through actual memories, then certainly through her journal. She had written everything down. Whether she would believe it was another story.
Uneasiness spread through him, settling deep in his stomach. He was going to have to tell her.
Lois was going to keep pushing him, keep asking for the missing memories from the past month. He couldn’t keep glossing over things and pretending like everything was okay between them.
It wasn’t. They couldn’t be together, and he was going to have to tell her that.
Wasn’t he?
He reached out to knock on the door, mentally preparing himself for Lois’s confusion when she answered, and then he hesitated.
Until she was fully recovered from this, did he have the right to foist the full truth on her? She had seemed so scared, so vulnerable last night. It wouldn’t be fair of him, or loving, to unburden his conscience by telling her things that she didn’t really need to know right now.
Would it?
No, it wouldn’t. It could wait. What she needed right now more than anything was a friend to help her through this – even if she thought that friend was something more... than a friend. He put his knuckles to the wood and rapped lightly.
When the door swung open, Clark thought he had prepared himself for whatever Lois might throw at him.
He was wrong.
Lois rushed into his arms, her lips finding his in a passionate kiss. As his mind fought to determine just why this wasn’t a good idea, his body took over and his arms wrapped themselves around her of their own will.
Lois clung to him. Oh, his lips felt so good. She knew that she had been mad at him for hiding from her, not telling her the truth about Superman. She knew that because she was feeling those feelings now. Everything was new to her. But those emotions weren’t overpowering - something inside her was also telling her that she had forgiven him. And then there was her journal, which said Clark had proposed to her.
Proposed to her! That was a hard concept to wrap her mind around first thing in the morning, but the possibility had been staring up at her from the pages of that journal in pure black and white. There had also been a card in Clark’s handwriting tucked into her journal telling her that he would give her all the time she needed.
Right now the only thing she knew for sure was that she wanted to hold him - and wanted him to hold her.
And she never wanted to let him go.
Clark didn’t think she was ever going to let go of him. What had prompted this reaction from her? He reluctantly but insistently parted from her. “What’s going on?” he asked breathlessly.
“Remember yesterday you told me about reviving me and thinking you almost lost me? Well of course you remember - I’m the one with the memory problem. Anyway, I dreamt about it last night.”
Clark was so relieved that he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “You dreamt about it? So you remembered something I told you from yesterday?”
“No, not from yesterday. From when you froze me. And it wasn’t something you told me. I dreamed about how you woke me up - it was like I lived it again. Clark, I think I actually *remembered* something!”
Clark felt a thrill of excitement go through him accompanied by just a touch of nerves. “Do you remember anything else?”
Lois furrowed her brow as she thought for a moment. “No. I remember everything up through waking up in your arms, after you thawed me out. But that’s when I woke up and that seems to be where my memory stops as well. Everything else I know because I made a list and wrote it in a journal.” Clark watched as a curious twinkle came into her eyes. “Do you realize what this means?”
He shook his head; she had lost him.
“It means you have to tell me more,” she said excitedly. “You have to give more of my memories back to me. Maybe I’ll begin to remember more as you do.”
He wished that were true. But he didn’t see how that could be possible. After all, he had explained everything in detail to her the other night, and she hadn’t remembered any of it the next morning. What he was afraid was that this was just a fluke.
But he wasn’t going to tell her that. And he certainly wasn’t about to get into their breakup, not right this second anyway. “We can talk more later. Right now, I need to get you to your doctor’s appointment.”
Clark felt even more guilt at the look of disappointment he saw on her face, but it couldn’t be helped. He wasn’t even sure what he planned on telling her yet. He needed some time today to think about it.
Lois frowned. He was being - oh how had she put it in her journal? Aloof? Yes. He was being aloof - again. He *was* dodging her. Presumably he had acted that way all day yesterday, if her notes were anything to go by. She wondered if it was because she still hadn’t given him an answer to that “supposed” proposal. She had to find out about that for sure.
She wasn’t going to her doctor’s appointment, not just yet. This couldn’t wait, not even until after her appointment. “Okay. I’m ready when you are, but first I want to swing by the Planet. There’s something I need to clear up with Perry.”
Perry? What was she going to ask Perry, Clark wondered? Something she came across when she was going over some notes last night or this morning?
Clark wasn’t sure just why but, for some reason, it concerned him.
***********
Clark slowed the Jeep and was getting ready to turn in the direction of the parking garage when Lois’s hand came out to rest on his arm. It sent a tingle through him.
“No, just drop me off here, Clark, and wait for me. This will only take a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“But if it’s about the story we’re working on, shouldn’t I be there with you when you talk to Perry?”
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s not about work. It’s personal.” She leaned over and gave him a swift but tender kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.” She wiped her lipstick from his cheek and then hopped out of the car before he even had time to protest.
Personal?
As he watched Lois disappear inside the building, he wondered briefly if he could hear them from down here, inside the car. He could definitely peer through the building and watch.
Mortified at himself, he shook his head. His mother would probably threaten to beat him if she knew he was thinking about intentionally spying on Lois... Not that he hadn’t done it before.
That had been different, though. They hadn’t been a couple before.
But they weren’t a couple now, he reminded himself.
He tore his eyes away from the building and looked down at the radio. Maybe it was better if he just removed temptation completely.
**********
“Lois? Aren’t you supposed to be at the doctor’s office? Where’s Clark?” Perry asked, his voice caught between confusion and concern.
“Clark? Clark’s down in the car, Perry. We’re on our way to the doctor’s office, but I had to know something. This couldn’t wait.”
Perry’s eyebrows went up a little and he sat up a little straighter in his seat. “You, uh, seem pretty worked up. What’s on your mind?”
“Clark.”
“Clark?”
She nodded at him and then turned and began to slowly pace. “I know I’m missing a lot from the past few weeks, but I just came across some interesting information that I wanted to ask you about. I know you didn’t get to be editor by being a snappy dresser,” she quipped, stopping to glance at him. Off of his wounded look she hastily amended, “Not that you’re not fashion-conscious, Chief...”
“Oh, save it, Lois. What did you want?”
“Did Clark ask me... that is... did I tell you about...”
“I do need to try and leave sometime today...”
“Right. Okay. .” She took a quick breath and then let the words tumble out. “I think Clark asked me to marry him before I lost my memory. Did he?”
Perry watched her in stunned disbelief. Of course he knew about the proposal. He bit back a smile when he remembered Lois coming into his office and telling him that Clark had asked her to marry him. Perry had asked if she thought they ought to try dating first. That was before that fiasco on Spencer Spencer’s island.
That retreat really hadn’t turned out the way he had planned. It was supposed to be a getaway for Lois and Clark. He was going to have to find a way to make that up to them. That is, once Lois got her memory back.
Perry frowned. Of all the information Clark had no doubt given Lois since she had lost her memory, he hadn’t thought to tell her *that*? You don’t simply *forget* to tell someone that you proposed to them. Something was up.
“Well, I, uh,” Perry stammered. “Don’t you think that’s something you should ask Clark?”
“That’s the thing. Normally, I would. You know me, Chief, I don’t beat around the bush. But what if I’m wrong? That could be a little awkward.” She paused, looking at him expectantly. When he didn’t say anything she sighed dramatically. “Well, do you know, or don’t you?”
“Yeah. Yeah, Lois, I know. And my advice to you,” he looked at her very pointedly, “is to ask Clark about it.”
That was it. That was her answer. Clark *had* proposed to her!
**********
Lois rattled the pills around in the little brown plastic bottle. Well, rattle wasn’t really the right word. They were liquid-filled capsules and they didn’t make much more than a muted clack as they bounced against one another. Thirty pills – thirty chances to fill in the holes in her memory.
She glanced sidelong at Clark as he drove them back to the Planet. She hadn’t figured out yet how to bring up the proposal to him. Part of her just wanted to blurt it out. Call him on it. She had tried to work up the nerve to do that on the way to the doctor’s office, but she couldn’t. And then she hadn’t had the privacy to do it at the doctor’s office, but now they were back in the car, alone.
The other part of her, though, desperately wanted Clark to come clean, to tell her about the proposal on his own.
Maybe even propose again. She looked away to hide her smile.
Something was obviously keeping him from telling her, though, possibly the fact that she hadn’t accepted his proposal to begin with. She had probably crushed him when she had said “no”, or that she had to “think about it”, or whatever it was that she had told him.
What would she say right now? If he asked her again?
She wasn’t sure...
She looked back down at the bottle in her hands. The pills were a golden honey color. They looked almost good enough to eat. She bet if she punctured one and tasted it that it wouldn’t taste anything like honey.
She looked over at Clark, again, her eyes going straight to his lips. *He*, however, tasted like honey, or something close to honey. She wished she could have a taste of those lips now. A movement distracted her from his mouth and she noticed that the little tic in his jaw, the one that meant he was working something out in his mind, was jumping erratically.
“The doctor was very pleased that I had remembered something already,” Lois said, unable to sit in silence any longer. “He said he thought the pills were working better than we had hoped. The one I took last night was my first one, after all. I think the visit was encouraging, don’t you?” she asked, her voice hopeful.
“Mmm,” Clark mumbled distractedly.
“Are you even listening to me?” she complained.
“What?” he asked, turning to look at her. “Yes, Lois, I’m listening to you. I’ve just... got a lot on my mind, that’s all.”
“Oh? Well why don’t you share it with me? Is there something you are just dying to tell me, or maybe ask me?”
The confusion she saw on his features didn’t do anything to assure her that he knew what she was talking about, let alone give her hope that he was actually going to divulge anything to her.
“Actually, I do.”
Lois’s heart jumped in her chest. She tried to control her breathing and calm the beating of her heart, but it was impossible. She bit the inside of her lip as she waited semi-patiently for him to continue.
“But not right now,” Clark continued, not finding his nerve. This was all wrong. He still wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to tell her or how much. Whatever he was going to say, he couldn’t tell her here. Not like this – in her Jeep on the way back to work. It had to be somewhere private and comforting. It needed to be at her apartment. “Ask me again, later.”
He hated himself for the disappointment he saw on her face. What was she hoping he was going to tell her?
<Oh, don’t worry. It’s not about work. It’s personal...>What did she know – or think she knew – about what had happened in the past month?
What had she asked Perry about earlier?
**********
Lois was finishing up writing some notes for the day on their “nonexistent” story and her “nonexistent” memory in her journal when she heard Clark sigh exasperatedly.
“Yeah, I’ll hold.”
She looked up in time to see him run a hand through his hair and blow out a long sigh through pursed lips. It was about the fourth time she’d heard him utter those words and then sigh since he’d made the call to STAR Labs.
They had been trying to contact Dr. Klein to ask him some further questions about Project Nirvana but, so far, he was still inaccessible.
Dr. Klein must be a very busy man.
But maybe not too busy for Superman?
Lois got up from her desk and walked over to Clark; she looked around conspiratorially and leaned down close to his ear. “What about Superman? If Clark Kent can’t get through to Dr. Klein, maybe Superman could?”
“Lois, I do not use my secret identity to bypass... What? Yes, I’ve been holding. How much longer is it... No! Wait! Ugh... sure, I’ll hold.” He looked up to see Lois smiling smugly at him. He was about to say something when her phone began to ring. She turned back to look at it and then shrugged at him as she walked back to her desk.
Lois had scarcely believed her journal entry this morning and she wondered if this was the call she had been waiting for. If it was, there was no way she wouldn’t be overheard by Clark. Oh well. Tough. This had to be done, and if bothered Clark then he the one was being immature.
“Lois Lane,” she spoke into the receiver as she lifted it to her ear.
“So I didn’t imagine it. Tell me you called just to hear my voice.” Lois rolled her eyes at Dan Scardino’s attempts to flirt with her. She was still amazed that she’d kept his office number in her Rolodex. But it seemed now as if she might have a use for it after all - if he would help her.
“I’m sorry I missed your call yesterday,” he continued smoothly, “I was out... So, *is* this a social call? Please tell me it is. Please tell me that you’ve come to your senses and dumped that lackluster partner of yours... or better yet, he finally ran off and never came back.”
“Hi, Dan,” she said simply, trying to avoid his comments as best she could. After all, she was going to need to sweet talk him a little if she was going to get what she wanted out of him. “It’s not exactly a social call,” she forced the lie from her lips with difficulty and glanced around guiltily. Clark was looking at her – correction - frowning at her. Well, that was what he got for listening in on other people’s conversations. “Actually, Dan, I need your help.”
“My help? *You* need *my* help?”
She grimaced. He was going to be difficult, after all. “Yeah.”
“My help comes at a steep price, Lois.” She could actually *hear* him smiling through the phone.
She furrowed her brow, raising her eyebrows. Price? She didn’t ask, letting her silence speak for her.
“It just so happens that I’m going to be in Metropolis for a few days,” he continued. “I’m coming through briefly to testify at the Knox trial before heading out to my next assignment in Philadelphia. I wasn’t planning to give you a call, after our last conversation... but if you need information, the least you can do is go out to dinner with me. My flight gets in tomorrow afternoon.”
So it was going to be extortion. She sighed wearily. Clark wasn’t going to be happy. But if anyone could give them the information they were looking for, it would be Dan. She was fairly certain he would share more info than Dr. Klein ever would. “You don’t even know what I’m going to ask. I need to know...”
“Uh-uh. No way. No dinner, no information. That’s the deal.”
She hesitated for a second before replying, “Okay, Dan,” in a resigned tone. She could see Clark, out of the corner of her eye, as he slammed his receiver down, the look on his face way past irritation. “But it’s just a business dinner, nothing else,” she added hastily.
“Well, yeah. Strictly business. You know me – all work and no play.”
Lois relaxed a little into her chair. He was teasing her, but at least he knew that she wanted to keep it on a professional level. “Where do you want to meet?”
“Why don’t I pick you up at your apartment and we’ll go from there?”
She tensed up again. “Oh, Dan, I don’t know...” She could see Clark getting up out of his chair to walk over towards her. She needed to wrap this up quickly, before Clark decided he needed to intervene on her behalf. “Okay, sure, how about six o’clock?”
“Six it is. See you soon. Oh, and don’t expect me to bring flowers.” He chuckled lightly and hung up. She put the receiver back down in its cradle and looked up at Clark with her best innocent look.
“So, did you get through to Dr. Klein?” she asked, trying to sidetrack him.
“Who was that?”
She grimaced. No such luck. Then she felt a little irritation. Who was that? He knew who that was! “Don’t give me that. I know you were listening in on my conversation, ‘Mr. Sonar Ears’.”
Her comment seemed to have wounded him a little and he had the decency to look a little chagrined.
“I only called him because I knew he could help with the case,” she continued unabashed. “Dan did extensive research on that drug. Remember, he was up to his eyeballs posing as a dirty FDA agent in an undercover sting when Intergang tried to get the drug approved in a hurry.”
Clark knew that it was a reasonable idea. Dan was the only other expert they knew besides Dr. Klein. And Dr. Klein was proving almost impossible to get in touch with.
Clark’s heart feared another story. Hearing Lois talk to Dan had opened up all the anxiety he had tried so hard to forget. She might say that she was over Dan – and she very well may be - but Clark just knew that Dan didn’t feel the same way. Dan had backed away gracefully when Lois had made her intentions known, but that didn’t mean the jerk would stop trying if he thought there was the least little chance.
“Then you won’t mind if I come to dinner with you tomorrow night,” he suggested.
She raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. “Clark, are you seriously jealous? You remember that I dumped him, right? Listen, I understand your feelings, I really do. But you know Dan isn’t going to open up with you there. You make him uncomfortable – and that makes me uncomfortable. You’re just going to have to trust me to do this one on my own.”
“What about your memory?” he challenged.
“Don’t worry. I’ll write the appointment down in my journal and I’ll take my journal with me to dinner tomorrow night. Nothing will be forgotten.”
Clark looked less than happy and Lois felt a little guilty. Maybe she could make it up to him by having dinner with *him*... tonight. He still owed her some explanations, after all. Explanations... hah, that was one way of putting it. “Besides, you’re coming over for dinner tonight, right?”
Dinner? She wanted to have dinner with him tonight? When he faltered in his response she continued, “I really need to talk to you and I really don’t want to be by myself tonight,” she admitted, her mouth making that cute little pout that was almost impossible for him to resist.
He was torn. Part of him knew he shouldn’t. He had told her they couldn’t see each other any more. He needed to keep his distance from her as much as he could, in order to protect her.
But she didn’t know that now... she had lost those memories again and he still wasn’t sure he was ready yet to relive them with her... again. What was it he had told himself earlier that morning?
She needed a friend right now.
He had comforted her before as her friend. He would do that for her tonight. Plus, he didn’t really want her to have to be alone tonight, either. He hadn’t wanted to leave her alone last night. He wished she had let him call Lucy or Ellen to come stay with her.
She was so stubborn sometimes...
Then, too, there was her dinner with Dan tomorrow. It really bothered Clark, more than he cared to admit. And part of his irrational brain said if she was going to have dinner with Dan that he wanted to have dinner with her, too.
He knew he was being foolish – but the idea had been seeded and was now firmly rooted in his heart.
“Dinner?” he asked. She nodded. “At *your* place?” Another nod. “Are *you* cooking?” That earned him a playful slap on the arm.
“Fine,” she pouted and then she got a little twinkle in her eye. “You know, Dan liked my rumaki. And I bet there are plenty of men out there who could learn to love my cooking,” she stated matter-of-factly, giving him a mischievous look.
He rolled his eyes at the further mention of Dan’s name. He had heard the man’s name too many times both that day and the day before – once had been one too many. Dan had finally been extricated from their lives a little over a month ago. It had taken Clark that long to forget him. And now, it seemed, he was coming back.
Clark sighed in frustration. He could have died happy if he’d never seen the man again – never heard his name mentioned again. But he knew he couldn’t fault Lois for continuing to bring him up. She couldn’t remember anything that had happened the past month – so Dan was probably still pretty fresh in her mind. Which was fine, so long as she continued to remember that she had emphatically shown him the door.
He still didn’t like it, though. It... irked him. And what irked him even more was that she was going to have dinner with *him* tomorrow.
<He wouldn’t be able to just stand idly by and watch Lois date some other person – even if he had told her that they couldn’t be together. Especially if she dated someone as smarmy as Dan Scardino. Or, god forbid, Scardino himself...>She could... end up with someone like Scardino. Clark was eventually going to have to tell her what had happened between them... that he had told her they couldn’t be together because it wasn’t safe for her.
He couldn’t expect her to stay single the rest of her life. She was beautiful and talented. And someone was going to come along, eventually... whether it was Dan, or someone else.
The thought left him feeling unsettled. Just *thinking* about Lois with someone else was enough to put an uncomfortable knot in the pit of his stomach. It caused all kinds of unpleasant feelings to flow through him.
Imagine if he actually had to *see* her with another man.
That thought wasn’t at all pleasant. He’d have to move again if that happened... when that happened. That’s all there was to it.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her happy. He wanted that more than anything – safe and happy. But he couldn’t – he wouldn’t – just sit back and watch her with another man. Watch her be held by another man. Watch her kiss another man...
That *would* be more than he could take.
“Hey, I was just teasing,” she said, grabbing his arm and jolting him out of his thoughts. “You know there’s nothing between me and Dan. Honestly... I’m not sure there ever would have been.”
“Yeah, I know,” he told her, his voice sounding a little unsteady. There wasn’t anything between Lois and Dan - right now. But when she found out that she wasn’t otherwise engaged with someone else...
Lois watched Clark as he fidgeted, his expression dark with emotion. What was up with him? Surely he knew she was just kidding with him? Even if she was still upset with him over the whole Superman situation, she knew there was only one man for her.
And she had chosen Clark over Dan, after all. Why should this bother him so much? But, then again, if everything she had learned was true, she had turned down his proposal. Was that it?
Well, they were going to move past that tonight.
“So?” she asked.
“So?” he shook his head, looking confused.
“Are you going to come over for dinner...?”
“Oh. Yeah,” he stumbled and then he threw her a crooked grin. “But why don’t I cook for you?”
**********
To Be Continued...
